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Mines/Brazil

Ouro Preto and the Minas Gerais gold fields

Ouro Preto and the Minas Gerais gold fields, Brazil. Heritage site, placer, mining gold.

Why Ouro Preto and the Minas Gerais gold fields is famous

Brazil mined about 1,200 t of gold in the 18th century with Minas Gerais supplying the lion's share. Ouro Preto was state capital until 1897, and 17 percent of enslaved people imported into Brazil in the 18th century went to the mines. The Passagem mine near Mariana produced more than 30 t over three centuries.1,2

Story cards

Ouro Preto and the Minas Gerais gold fields today

Where gold is mined todayMining in Brazil

Where next

Mines

ExamplesSerra PeladaBrazil mined about 1,200 t of gold in the 18th century. Serra Pelada is a former large gold mine.1

Places

Located inOuro PretoOuro Preto and the Minas Gerais gold fields sits at Ouro Preto.1

Sources

  1. Minas Gerais gold history ICWA
  2. Wikidata entity Q188905

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Mijnramp Bois du Caizier, Marcinelle, België. Schacht, Rossem, Wim van / Anefo / Europeana (Public Domain Mark 1.0); NASA's ASTER Shows Brazilian City After Dam Disaster, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).